Photo/Illutration Acquaintances of Yukie Murakami offer flowers and prayers near the scene where she was stabbed to death on May 25. (Arata Mitsui)

NAKANO, Nagano Prefecture—The father of a murder suspect here had bought his son a gun in hopes of lifting his spirits, investigative sources said.

The sources quoted the father as saying that his son, Masanori Aoki, now 31, seemed more discouraged with life after he dropped out of college.

The father recommended to his son that he take up farming. But that did not seem to inspire Aoki, who eventually asked his father to buy him a hunting gun, the sources said. His father obliged.

Aoki gained a license to own the hunting gun in 2015. He later purchased three additional rifles.

Aoki has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a police officer and is also linked to the deaths of another officer and two women here on May 25.

According to sources, Aoki has told police he used a rifled slug gun to shoot two police officers who responded to an emergency call about a woman being stabbed by a man.

The sources said Aoki appears to have believed that the two women who were stabbed to death were making fun of him for always being alone.

Aoki told police during questioning that “my anger exploded” when he thought the women were badmouthing him, the sources said.

As a farmer, Aoki often worked the field by himself.

The two women, Yukie Murakami and Yasuko Takeuchi, had a habit of taking walks together in the afternoon.

On May 25, they were taking a stroll together when they were attacked. A police autopsy found that Takeuchi had been stabbed at least 10 times with a survival knife.

(This article was written by Shingo Tsuru and Okuto Ko.)

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